Not This Time
by Kunoichi Uchiha
Summary: Yuffie leaves her love in order to save him. When she meets him again a year later she has alot of explaining to do! Oneshot. AU. CxY.


**A/N- Another oneshot. My brain is working overtime! AU, Clouffie.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own kingdom hearts, my birthday is August 19th though if you would like to buy it for me!**

It was a peaceful day filled with songbirds and light breezes. The perfect day for napping under the clouds or having a picnic in the park. This peace, however, was not to last for a certain flower girl who savored days like today.

"I don't want to go!" came a loud scream directed at the said flower girl.

Aerith let out a frustrated sigh at the fight her young friend was giving her. Yuffie had always been weary about meeting new people but it was starting to get ridiculous. Aerith rubbed her neck in an attempt to lessen the tension in the muscles. She cared for her young friend dearly but she was the first to admit that Yuffie was secretive about her thoughts and feelings and would hide them with her anger whenever she felt threatened.

Yuffie had always been an odd one, an enigma even. She was constantly bright and optimistic but anyone could see she had her own share of deep dark secrets that she hid from the world. She never spoke of her past. Whenever the subject was discussed, she would immediately bring something else up refusing to give any clue about her history. The only thing Aerith did know was that she had at one time been engaged but it didn't work out in the end. She used that excuse to explain why she was never pursuing men like most single women her age would be. Yuffie would never say anything else about her former lover but whenever she did speak of him, it was with a faraway look in her eyes that was filled with sadness and regret. Aerith never pushed the matter further. Yuffie would tell her when she was ready.

Yuffie was in for a wake up call though; little did she know it would be sooner than expected.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A deep sigh could be heard coming from Leon as he listened to the conversation currently taking place in his car. Light music was playing but it was ignored in favor of the obnoxious girly chat. Leon knew it was a mistake to put all three of them in the car at the same time. He reached out to try to raise the volume and drown out their dialogue but his hand was slapped away before reaching the target. He looked over to Aerith to see her shoot him a mild glare before she turned back to the other occupants of the car. They were currently informing the youngest female of their group about the people they were on their way to meet, Yuffie did not look as ecstatic as the other two did though. Leon sighed and continued to try to ignore them.

A few minutes latter Leon parked the car outside of a nightclub, which none of the girls had seen before. Yuffie slowly opened her car door while never taking her eyes from the astounding building. It had to be one of the most noticeable buildings in the area, with its flashing lights and pounding music, but for some reason she had never seen or heard anything about this miraculous club. She followed Leon, Aerith and Tifa to the entrance, while looking up to the flashing neon sign.

'_Coliseum_,' she thought reading the sign to herself, 'that's a strange name for a nightclub.'

As they moved closer to the entrance the music became much louder and Yuffie had a bad feeling she wouldn't be leaving here headache-free. She sighed to herself knowing her Advil bottle would come in handy tomorrow.

They entered the club and Yuffie grabbed on to Tifa to prevent being lost in the sea of people as they fought to maneuver around the club. Leon led them over toward, where Yuffie assumed, his friends had found a table. She avoided as many half-drunk men as possible on the trek through the club. Leon was a far way ahead from her and Tifa, who were still maneuvering through bodies. When most of the people had cleared Yuffie saw Leon was already at his friends' table talking animatedly with another brown haired man. Aerith was waving at them to catch their attention and Tifa began to head her way, grabbing Yuffie by the wrist so not to lose her. As they got closer to the table, Yuffie began independently examining each of Leon's friends her eyes passing from one to the next in a matter of seconds.

Her eyes stopped on a platinum blonde head of hair. Her breathing ceased as she took in his familiar appearance and her heart began to pound in her chest. She turned her head and began to look for some kind of escape. He had not noticed her yet, he was focused on the drink menu, his mako eyes passing rapidly over the selections. She began to take slow steps back trying to get as far away as possible. Unfortunately, Tifa's hand was still attached to her wrist preventing her from getting away. She began trying to jerk her arm out of Tifa's grasp but the older woman's grip was much too strong. The sudden movement seemed to catch his attention and slowly, almost painstakingly, his eyes landed on her form.

His mouth gaped open when he saw her and his eyes were widened slightly in surprise. He looked into her stormy eyes and she could see the emotions in his clear as day, hurt and confusion the most dominant. Leon could be heard in the background but neither were focusing on what he was saying, they were too lost in their own world to care. Yuffie felt Tifa release her arm but didn't run. How could she when he was looking at her with those eyes?

"Cloud," Leon said to him but he didn't turn away from her, "You know Aerith and Tifa, but this is…"

"Yuffie," Cloud said softly, finishing the introduction for him. Leon gave him a weird look and glanced at Aerith but she looked just as confused as he was.

Hearing her name come from his lips was enough to snap Yuffie out of whatever spell she was under and she turned and bolted for the exit. She shoved people out of her path harshly and ignored a few choice words they sent her way. She made it out of the door in record time and began running through the parking lot as fast as her three-inch stilettos would allow. She had almost made it to the car when she felt a strong grip on her upper arm. His grip was bruising and he turned her around roughly. She could see the anger in his face and knew that she was not getting away this time.

"We need to talk," he said looking down at her with an expression that dared her to say otherwise.

"There is nothing to talk about," she said trying to break free. He yanked on her arm sharply to stop her struggle.

"Oh really?" he said, his tone mocking. She answered him with a silent glare that would have made a lesser man cower. Before she knew it, she was being forcefully hauled to a black BMW and deposited on the passenger seat. Cloud quickly got in to the driver's seat and moments later, they were driving away from the Coliseum. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and huffed like a child. He held back a smirk at her childish antics. 'Some things never change,' he thought to himself. She had her head turned away from him and Cloud knew she was trying to avoid the inescapable conversation that he was about to start.

"Yuffie…" he started.

"Hmm," she replied without turning from the window. He knew she was being stubborn but he had to ask the questions that had been plaguing his mind for the past year.

"Why did you leave?" he asked her in a soft voice lined with hurt. He glanced at her slightly before turning his attention back to the road.

"Because I wanted to," she told him, no emotion in her voice. He gripped the steering wheel tightly as he forced his anger back down.

"You just decided to leave one day without even a goodbye?" he said, the anger beginning to leak through his voice. When she didn't answer he continued, "You didn't even tell me why. You just upped and left, do you know what it was like to have someone you love do that to you?"

She didn't say anything back, just continued to look out the window at the passing scenery. Cloud was silent for the rest of the trip, not trusting himself to drive and have this conversation at the same time. When he pulled into his driveway, he turned the car off and fell back in his seat with a painful sigh. He turned to look at her then, and continued with his interrogation.

"When I woke up that morning, I expected you to be in my arms like you always were," she turned to look at him for the first time as he spoke, "but the bed was cold and when I reached for you, the only thing there was your engagement ring lying on the pillow." He took a deep breath and she noticed that the memories were getting to him, "I looked everywhere for you, hoping that you had just woken up early and your ring had fallen off during the night. By the time I realized that you had really left me, you were already too far away to be found," he finished the story and looked into her eyes to search for a reaction. He did not expect to see the tears that were running down her face. He reached for her but she was out of the car before he could wipe the tears away.

He cautiously walked toward her sobbing form, not wanting her to bolt away from him again. He lightly placed his hand on her shoulder and was surprised when she turned around and fell into his embrace. He shook out of his daze and held her tenderly while rubbing his hands down her back.

"I'm sorry…I didn't want to…he made me," she muttered almost inaudibly through her tears. Cloud didn't think she really knew what she was saying or that he had heard every word of it. He did know though, that her leaving him was obviously not of her own free will.

He whispered sweet nothings in her ear while she continued to sob. Her crying showed no signs of slowing so he caringly picked her up and headed toward his front door. She had cried herself to sleep before he had gotten it unlocked…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuffie woke up feeling marvelously warm. Ever part of her body was content except for her eyes, which were slightly swollen. She slowly became aware as memories of the night before came flooding back.

She moved to get up but a strong arm around her waist prevented her from moving. Her movement had apparently awoken the arm's owner and before she knew what was happening he had pulled her closer to him. He placed several soft kisses under her ear and whispered a sleepy good morning before she could push him away.

She moved to the opposite side of the bed and looked at him wearily as he gazed back with sleepy, half-lidded eyes. She glared at his calmness and he smiled back at her warmly. She stood up from the bed continuing to watch him as he simply kept smiling at her. She opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to it.

"Who was it that made you leave?" he inquired and he could see her eyes widen slightly as she realized what he had just asked. "Tell me and I will make sure that he never says another word to you again," Cloud said completely serious.

"I…can't," she said turning her back to him.

She heard movement from the bed and felt his warmth behind her a moment later. His arms delicately embraced her and she was tempted to fall back into them and let him hold her like old times. She felt him nuzzle her hair lovingly as he pulled her body closer to his.

"Don't run from me Yuffie," he said with his face still buried in her soft hair.

"He said he would kill you," she murmured aloud. He suddenly knew who she was talking about and almost wanted to laugh at how severely she had underestimated him.

"Yuffie, don't you realize what he was trying to do?" she turned to look him then, the question clearly on her face.

"He knew that he couldn't beat me the way I was, he needed to have an advantage over me," he began to explain. All of the events began to fall into place and Cloud suddenly knew why everything had happened. Yuffie looked at him quizzically as he continued his rationalization.

"However, I guess he made a rather large mistake," he paused to make sure that she understood every word that he was about to say.

"He thought that I would be distraught over you leaving, I was, deeply, but I was also incredibly angry. I thought that I had driven you away somehow and I wanted to take my anger out on something physically. When he attacked me, I harnessed the anger I felt and became even more powerful. I killed Kadaj before he could even lay a hand on me," he finished his explanation, watching as she took in all of the information.

"You killed him just like that?" she asked flabbergasted. He nodded to her with a humorous glint in his mako eyes. "I feel like such an idiot," she said stepping out of his embrace and heading to sit on the side of the bed. He did the same, taking a seat beside her. They sat like that for minutes, taking in everything that they had just learned and enjoying each other's presence.

When Yuffie felt his hand come to rest on her thigh, she turned her eyes to him. She was given a fraction of a second to see the sparkle in his eyes before his lips met hers, their first kiss in a year. The kiss was gentle and soothing, they relished in the feel of their lips together. He deepened the kiss when she buried her hands in his blonde spikes and he found his hands running up the back of her shirt, feeling the warm skin of her back against his fingertips.

Yuffie found herself pushed back to lie on the bed, Cloud was hovering over her and continuing his exploration of her mouth. His kiss was passionate and demanding, forcing her to respond and acknowledge the pent up desire they both were feeling. He moved his kisses to her jaw line, as she attempted to catch her breath, and began to lightly nip and suckle the tender skin of her neck.

"Yuffie," he spoke huskily to her between his kisses, his breath warm against the shell of her ear.

"Hmm," she said, unable to voice anything else through the haze of desire she was feeling.

"Stay with me," he said, his voice sounded hoarse as he tried to control his emotion.

"Forever," she said back to him as she brought his lips back to hers in a burning kiss.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuffie woke up in the middle of the night, the familiar warmth of his body heating hers. She was lying on her back, Cloud's head resting on her shoulder and his arm thrown over her waist. She smiled at how possessively he was holding her, it was as if he was afraid she would be gone again when he woke up.

'Not this time,' she thought to herself as she snuggled deeper into his embrace.

A shinny glint caught her eye. She moved to see what it was and realized that it was coming from her hand. She lifted her hand to examine it and saw that her ring was back on her finger. 'He must have slipped it back on while I was asleep,' she thought. A smile came to her face and she placed a soft kiss on his forehead before settling back to sleep.

**A/N- OOCness but it's an AU so who cares. This came from a dream I had one time. Whatever, Review.**


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